Dedicated to all of you who are in areas of the world where the heat is the only topic anyone’s talking about.
From the south there’s this one:
“It’s hotter’n a blister bug in a pepper patch.”
And this one:
It’s so dang hot, I just saw a hound dog chasing a rabbit and they were both walking.
This youtube video, which if you have delicate sensibilities is probably not for you, is silly and some of the jokes fall flat, but one can blame it on the heat.
I had to add this one, because… well who doesn’t hum this when everyone starts talking about how insanely hot it is?
In other news I continue to stitch away despite the heat and warnings from ConEdison that New York City is in danger of losing power, yet they still keep lighting up all the massive signs in Times Square, but ask that residents conserve and turn their air conditioners down, which we’ve dutifully done.
I’m wishing all of you a pleasant and not too hot day!
My mother hasn’t sent me anything in a few days other than requests for rain, which I’ve done my best to accommodate, but I only have so much reach when it comes to the weather. Speaking of which, it’s in the upper nineties here in New York City for the next couple of days and then will plummet into the mid to high seventies before rising back up. At least this is what we’re being told by meteorologists, who have the cushiest job ever, in my opinion. What other career allows you to be completely wrong more than 50% of the time and still hold onto your job? So much so that there are even a whole bunch of memes out there, like this one.
So, yeah.
But all of this hot weather means that staying inside continues to be a good idea, which means, hand stitching! Here’s what I’ve been working on.
There’s nothing quite like being woken in the middle of the night only to then not be able to go back to sleep. I took this opportunity to read. I read about Britney Spears and her ongoing battle to gain her full independence and then an article about how learning a new language will increase one’s chances of not getting Alzheimers. Lest you think me shallow, I just finished my french lesson. Je suis encore très fatigué, mais au moins je suis moins inquiet, which means: I am still very tired, but at least I am not so worried. Added plus, I may even be able to purchase a train ticket and find a bathroom when in France next year! Now to tackle a few pages of Marcus Aurelius.
In stitching news, oh there’s always stitching news(!) I’m working on three different projects simultaneously and am feeling okay about that. Usually this would make me anxious; I don’t like having lots of projects going at once, but at the moment, it’s fine. I have at least four other projects in various stages of completion, but have put them aside for now so that I can concentrate on these three.
And today is the 2nd day of my Dorset Buttons Gone Wild Scissor Case Workshop. We are beginning to stitch the Dorset Buttons and the stitching around the wool shapes. This is one of two workshops I will be teaching again in the fall with thread kits AND fabric kits now available!
I just posted a new video about using the Helix Angle and Circle Maker on fabric with mixed results. I think there are definite possibilities for this little gadget. Go see for yourself.
My mother sends me some truly fabulous things, among them is this video of the Denver Airport. I promise you, this in NOT what you’re expecting!
As the Denver Airport is one that I have frequented many, many times I was particularly pleased to see this. All airports should have things like this. It would make the not so fabulous air travel experience just a bit nicer and more fun.
On the stitching front, I finished my pin cushion or potpourri satchel or whatever else you might want to use this for. So much fun!
The Basics Cushion
As you may remember this was begun as a demonstration for The Basics Workshop that I taught and which I’ll be teaching again this fall. Kits are available!
I have to end this post with a comment to all of you who watched my video entitled, The Ice Cream Situation, which should really be called, The Ice Cream Situation: A Cautionary Tale, but that title while better, is too long and unruly for most social media postings, so I went with the truncated version. Now many of you have reported looking for this particular ice cream, some even saying they went to several different stores in search of it. And yet, this was meant to be a “cautionary tale“! You know, one of those – do as I say, not as I do, videos, but it is now obvious to me that hand stitchers are a bunch of rebels. No, seriously. Rebels. All of you. And here’s another thing that I’ve decided; you’re rebels AND you like to live dangerously. Either that or we (I’m including myself in this group) have a fatalistic streak that forces us to do things that we have been warned, explicitly, will be our undoing. This had to be said. I do not want to be the one who says, I told you so, when there are tears and stories of cases of ice cream being shipped all over the place, except that I did tell you. Just pointing that out. I told all of you and I have it on record.
For those of you who’ve followed my Travelogue vlog, the following conversation will make complete sense, for everyone else maybe not so much…
“Did they take blood?” I asked.
“There’s no blood test to see if you have cyanotoxins?” my husband told me.
“How’s that possible? They should have taken blood.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered because there’s nothing that can be done if I do have an infection.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” I said, even though I do not hold a medical degree.
“Sunburn and a torn ligament,” he replied.
“I have one word for you… “
He said nothing.
“Chartreuse,” I said. BOOM!
And so it goes. My poor husband. Thankfully it wasn’t anything worse. The torn ligament will heal over time and the sunburn, if in fact that really was what was causing his swollen, angry red ankles, has already dissipated.
In other news our flight home went off without a hitch. In fact it was as good a flying experience as one can have in these crazy times we live in, pandemic and all.
I gave a workshop the day after we returned home and am giving the Advanced Dorset Button Workshop this coming Saturday. As I will not be offering this workshop again, take it while you still can! If you want to sign up for it, do, there’s still space. We will be making Dorset Buttons like this one:
Cherry Blossoms
And this one:
Next week I am giving my The Basics Workshop, which I have also made kits for.
X-mas Came Early
And this one:
Summer Lilacs
In other words, when you sign up and opt for the kit, you will receive everything you need for The Basics Workshop.
And finally I’m going to end with this adorable video from my mother, because Mom’s videos are always a great way to end a post or anything else, for that matter. ❤️
It’s 4am. That seems important. I should be asleep, but here’s the thing, tomorrow we have to get up at 5am because we have an early flight, so I figure I may as well get up now since I have the option of going back to sleep whereas tomorrow I won’t. This is the kind of thinking that defies logic; welcome to my mind.
My husband told me there are herds of buffalo roaming about where we’re headed, which has me restless with anticipation. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a herd of buffalo in real life, although I think I must have when I was a young girl as we went on a great many road trips out west. Regardless, I am planning to take lots of photographs and will be shooting some video of them. And I intend to shoot some video while we’re hiking too. As I have rarely ventured out of our home in over a year, let alone wandered about amongst large beasts (fellow New Yorkers don’t count) my excitement level is extremely high. I can hardly wait. This is the first trip my husband and I will have taken since we went to Iceland three years ago! Was it really three years? Also I have to interject, when Richard and I got married, we had this crazy idea that we would travel around the world for a few years, but those plans were thwarted early on by work commitments, the realities of having small children, etc.
As I was packing yesterday I came face to face with a major dilemma. What sort of stitching do I take? This will be the topic of another video, no doubt. So far I’ve pulled way too many threads and although I’ve chosen a piece of hand dyed linen that I dyed last week or was it the week before, who can remember anymore? The threads are another issue altogether.
See? It’s a problem. And I haven’t even dipped into my Stef Francis stash yet.
So I have my work cut out for me today. Oh and I have workshop kits to mail. By the way, if you haven’t signed up for my The Basics Workshop, which I made such lovely kits for, there’s still time!
I even made a video about the workshop, the kits I made for the workshop and other random musings… Here you go!
If any of you are around in another few hours, don’t forget to tune in to today’s video, which premieres in a few hours, that’s 8am EDT. We can chat together, share some laughter and I’ll show you how I wind and organize my threads. Spoiler alert: it’s probably not what you think!
The next time you hear from me, I’ll be posting among buffalo!
And don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter; the signup is just to the right of this blog posting.
Recent comments